Again it weeps, And God doth take it from the mother's arms, Hinds. TO THE RAINBOW. TRIUMPHAL arch,1 that fill'st the sky I ask not proud Philosophy To teach me what thou art ; Still seem, as to my childhood's sight, Betwixt the earth and heaven. Can all that optics teach, unfold When Science from Creation's face And yet, fair bow, no fabling dreams, Have told why first thy robe of beams 1 Triumphal arch-There is something very fine in the conception of the rainbow's being a triumphal arch, raised to celebrate the peace which follows the war of the elements. One copy of this poem in a popular collection reads "triumphant arch," to the utter confusion of the sense. 2 Part-i.e. to depart. Gray in his "Elegy" writes: "The curfew tolls the knell of parting (i.e. departing or dying) day." 3 Akenside has expressed a very different opinion on this point. See Appendix, Note C. And yet, &c.—i.e. though fiction may be sometimes more agreeable than fact, yet here the fact itself is especially interesting. When o'er the green undeluged1 earth, And when its yellow lustre smiled Methinks, thy jubilee to keep, Nor ever shall the Muse's eye, The earth to thee her incense yields, How glorious is thy girdle, cast As fresh in yon horizon dark, As young thy beauties seem, 1 Undeluged no longer overwhelmed by the deluge. The prefix un in this word does not fully convey the meaning of the writer; un is simply not without that reference to a previous state, which is implied by the prefix dis. 2 Heaven's covenant-strictly speaking, the rainbow is not the covenant, but the sign or token of it. See Gen. ix, 13. 3 The world's grey fathers-this beautiful expression is borrowed from an old poet. See Appendix, Note D. 4 Anthem-literally anti-hymn-a piece of music arranged to be sung in parts, answering to each other-music for a cathedral choir. 5 In the usual copies we have "poet's theme," as above; the reading, however in the standard edition of Campbell's poems is, "prophet's theme," a less appropriate expression, though not inconsistent with the first named; inasmuch as the ancient idea of a poet included that of a prophet, or one who was, as it were, inspired to sing of things permanently true-of things past, present, and future. As when the eagle from the ark, Nor lets the type grow pale with age, Campbell. THE THAMES.1 My eye descending from the Hill,2 surveys Though with those streams he no resemblance hold, The mower's hopes, nor mock the ploughman's toil; First loves to do, then loves the good he does. 1 The Poem entitled "Cooper's Hill," from which this extract is made, was written in 1643. The date may account in part for the quaintness of the style. * The hill-Cooper's hill, near Windsor. 3 This idea is beautifully amplified by Cowper in the lines beginning, "The lapse of time and rivers is the same." 4 The rivers Pactolus and Hermus, in Asia Minor, were said by the ancient poets to roll down sand mingled with gold. 5 Resumes, &c.-i.e. does not first by his overflow create abundance, and then by a second inundation destroy his own creation. The figures in the last few lines display more ingenuity than taste. They are incongruous and unnecessarily multiplied. 6 Loves to do-i.e. loves to do good. The allusion here seems to be to Gen. i, 31. When1 he, to boast or to disperse his stores, So that to us no thing, no place, is strange, Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull, Denham. THE COMMON LOT.3 ONCE in the flight of ages past There lived a man-and who was he? That man resembled thee! Unknown the region of his birth, The land in which he lived unknown; That joy and grief,+ and hope and fear, His bliss and woe, a smile, a tear! Oblivion hides the rest. 1 When-seems here to mean inasmuch, seeing that-and the sense of the passage to be, that the blessings of the Thames are unlimited, inasmuch as, through the agency of the ships-"his flying towers"-that he sends forth laden with English produce and manufacture, he visits the world, and brings home both Indies to us, by making their produce and wealth ours. The last two lines have been much admired for the exquisite taste displayed in the choice of words. They embody, with happy brevity, the main characteristics of a finished style, which should be, "though deep yet clear, &c." "Strong without rage," means, strong without the ostentatious display of strength. 3 The lot or condition which is common to all mankind-with its hopes and fears, its pleasures and pains. Joy, delight, and bliss may be thus distinguished: Joy-is vivid Delight-absorbing and therefore transient, pleasure. Bliss-complete and abiding happiness. The bounding pulse, the languid limb, He suffered-but his pangs are o'er; He loved-but whom he loved the grave The rolling seasons, day and night, Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main, He saw whatever thou hast seen; The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye No vestiges where they flew! The annals of the human race, Than this-THERE LIVED A MAN. A similar distinction holds between grief and woe: Grief-is intense and overwhelming-but brief-sorrow. Montgomery. Hence we may speak of "transports of joy or grief," "ecstacies of delight," "perfect bliss," "speechless woe." In the above poem, "joy" and "grief” are correctly said to "triumph," &c. " delights" to be "fled," but " bliss," and "woe," are less correctly employed, inasmuch as bliss properly belongs only to heaven and woe "lies too deep for tears." 1 Erewhile-a while before-sometime ago. To him-for him, as far as he is concerned. 3 Vestige-from the Latin vestigium, a footmark-hence track, trace. Annals, &c.-neither the written history of mankind nor the ruins they have left behind them, afford any other trace, &c. |